Thank you for letting me know this was a thing!! Total game-changer.

When watching eagle nest cams, I’ve seen little birds and mammals hanging around eagle nests and scooping up scraps of leftover prey. I think in many cases a large raptor isn’t going to go chasing around a little birds when they’ve already caught something bigger and the little birds play clean up crew and take away scraps that would be too small for the larger birds. Not sure if that’s the case here but it’s a cool little cooperative situation to notice. You’ll also see little birds nesting under osprey nests, probably for the same reason.

They help significantly to combat the heat island effect in cities and provide shade and cooler microclimates for people to shelter in when it’s hot.

Just try going to a shady tree-lined path vs. a paved treeless path on a sunny day and you’ll be pretty clear on the meaning of this meme.

So yes we can’t stop global warming with trees alone but we can mitigate the local effects of it all while providing habitat for birds and shade for people and lots of other benefits besides.

This article has a pretty good review if you want to take a look at some of the benefits! https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/12/4371

And here’s a more plain-language website about urban trees: https://www.climatecentral.org/climate-matters/the-power-of-urban-trees-2023

Cucumbers need a lot of direct sun and a lot of space, either vertical (trellised) or horizontal (along the ground). Put them in a wide open sunny part of your yard. They’re also fairly susceptible to powdery mildew so keep an eye on them if the weather is rainy.

You mentioned you’re in Maine, which means you have a relatively short growing season. You might want to start your cucumber seeds inside to get a jump start on the season in the spring. Otherwise just make sure you get them started right away once it’s okay to plant outdoors so that you don’t run out of room at the end of the season.

Good luck and let us know how it goes! Cucumbers are a very rewarding plant, right up there with tomatoes for me as far as bang for your buck. Homegrown cucumbers have a crunch that totally knocks store bought ones out of the park.

Other vegetables I like growing that grow well in my corner of New England: Basil (grow enough to make several batches of pesto and freeze it) Tomatoes Sugar snap peas Leafy greens, especially collards and Swiss Chard Potatoes in 5-gallon buckets Hot peppers

My mother in law lets her cucumbers grow along the ground and they do great. Not sure if she buys a specific variety that’s not for climbing but it’s definitely possible to grow cukes without a trellis. Same as you would squash.

That said, a trellis saves a lot of space.

Thank you for reminding me this plant is edible. I’ve always wanted to try it as a tea and I’ve got a very healthy patch of it this year!

Just a foot and a half high, but they were individual for each plant so each fence circle was like 1 foot diameter maximum. I think if you had a bigger fenced area you’d need higher fences.

I made them out of hardware cloth and took them in over the winter and they’ve held up really well, so at least I don’t have to make new ones!

Calendula, bachelor’s buttons, and strawflower are all sprouted and looking healthy! For food plants, I’ve only started greens so far (collard and tatsoi). Soon it’ll be time to plant peas outside though and I’m stoked! Also got some potatoes chitting on the windowsill to plant in buckets. Those did really well last year.

Also we have one super collard who overwintered from last year and I’m excited to see what it does.

I’m apprehensive about the bunnies this year but more prepared to do battle. Last year they mowed most of my new plants down to the ground until I put little fences up. This year I’m gonna start with the fences from the get-go and see if I can get more plants past the tender chompable stage and into maturity. The only problem is I tried winter sowing a bunch of natives this year so I’ll need to notice when and where they come up and get defenses around them.

Apprehensions aside, though, I’m glad it’s spring! Bring on the gardening fun.

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